Shorter Christmas break for college students

Loyalist College’s 2,800 students will have a shorter break at Christmas this year in an effort to make up for lost time during the province-wide faculty strike.

Earlier this week, Ann Drennan, Loyalist’s Sr. V.P. Academic and Chief Learning Officer, sent a e-mail to students notifying them if a settlement is reached, the Christmas break will be shortened in an effort to make up for lost class time.

Drennan’s e-mail, which is posted on the Loyalist website, advises students the college will be closed from the end of day on Friday, December 22, and classes will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 2. The memo went on to say that time period is guaranteed and will not be used for classes or exams, regardless of how the semester is restructured. All dates that fall outside this time period, including the winter reading week from Feb. 19-23, may be used to restructure the academic year. Students are advised to plan holiday travel time accordingly.

Prior to the strike, classes were to end Dec. 15 for the break and commence again on Jan. 9.

Students with travel plans already in place can have their situation reviewed on an individual basis

Students have been out of class since 12,000 Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members, including professors, instructors counsellors and librarians walked off the job Oct. 16.

The union wants the number of full-time faculty to match the number of faculty members on contract, but the colleges have said that would add more than $250-million in costs each year.

The colleges had put forward a four-year-agreement that offers a 7.75 per cent pay increase.

On Thursday the College Employer Council and OPSEU agreed to return to the negotiation table.

In a statement, council bargaining chair Sonia Del Missier said she’s hopeful a settlement can be reached quickly enough for students to return to class by early next week.

“This strike has gone on for too long. We need to end the strike and get our students and faculty back in the classroom,” she said. “We will focus our efforts at the table and work very hard to reach a deal that ends the strike.”

On Friday afternoon, president of OPSEU Local 420, Eric Bauer, a professor in the environmental studies department at Loyalist, said members had not been informed if there was any progress during negotiations but believed talks were continuing..

“All’s quiet at this point and we’re still her on the (picket) line waiting patiently,” he said. “We haven’t had any dialogue with our (union) officials yet, but we’re very hopeful they’re making progress.”